TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments in perceived devastating brain injury: the key role of uncertainty
JO  - Neurocritical care
A1  - Lazaridis, Christos
SP  - 33
EP  - 41
VL  - 30
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (WOLST) is the leading proximate cause of death in patients with perceived devastating brain injury (PDBI). There are reasons to believe that a potentially significant proportion of WOLST decisions, in this setting, are premature and guided by a number of assumptions that falsely confer a sense of certainty. <br><br>METHOD: This manuscript proposes that these assumptions face serious challenges, and that we should replace unwarranted certainty with an appreciation for the great degree of multi-dimensional uncertainty involved. The article proceeds by offering a taxonomy of uncertainty in PDBI and explores the key role that uncertainty as a cognitive state, may play into how WOLST decisions are reached. <br><br>CONCLUSION: In order to properly share decision-making with families and surrogates of patients with PDBI, we will have to acknowledge, understand, and be able to communicate the great degree of uncertainty involved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1541-6933
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12028-018-0595-8
ID  - ref1
ER  -